Friday, July 17, 2015

When an NGO receives a sizeable portion of its budget from governments, it is no longer a non-governmental organization. And when such funding to NGOs is provided by allied states such as the U.S. or the UK, or international unions such as the EU, it constitutes disproportionate interference by external governments in the internal affairs of another democratic state.
"NGOs are meant to represent civil society, not the interests of foreign governments. Israeli NGOs that receive foreign government funding benefit from the misleading image of being 'non-governmental,' non-political, and based in 'civil society'" — NGO Monitor.NGO Monitor research reveals that a number of funders made their grants conditional on the NGO obtaining a minimum number of negative "testimonies." It should be clear that a wide range of church organizations, human rights NGOs, and a number of European governments are engaged in an extremely one-sided enterprise to bring about the defamation and destruction of the Jewish state. All of these NGOs have much the same political agenda of defaming, pressuring and undermining Israel; and using human rights issues to promote a steadily negative view of the country, its government, its laws, and its defence forces.Many never criticize the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, nor do they turn their attentions to the desperate state of human rights in states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, China, Russia and Lebanon, among others. NGOs are being well paid to urge total changes in the constitutions of other nations, and in the total abolition of another nation's right to exist at all. No other country in the world would stand for it; why should Israel?

Book Review: Catch The Jew!, by Tuvia TenenbomIf you want to understand why there is no peace in the Holy Land despite the best efforts of the Obama administration and the billion-dollar European “peace and human rights” industry, you owe it to yourself to read Catch the Jew! by Tuvia Tenenbom. This myth-shattering book became an instant bestseller in Israel last year, yet, Germany aside, it has largely been ignored in American and European media outlets and by the reigning Middle East punditocracy. Ostensibly, Tenenbom’s book is disdained because the author lacks the academic or journalistic credentials to be taken seriously as a commentator on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Though he speaks both Arabic and Hebrew, Tenenbom possesses no professional expertise on the modern Middle East, nor has he had any previous journalistic experience covering Israel and the Palestinian territories.
So much for academic and journalistic credentials, then. In this volume full of personal observations, revealing interviews, and Swiftian satire, Tenenbom offers deeper insights into the fundamental realities of the Middle East conflict and the pathologies of the Palestinian national movement than decades of reporting by media outlets such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Israel’s Haaretz. No fair-minded person can come away from this book without wondering why such citadels of contemporary liberal journalism have neglected to inform their readers of the scam being conducted in the region by self-styled human-rights activists and their taxpayer-funded European NGOs—not to mention that this massive international intervention actually makes it even more difficult to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Is Hamas joining the United Nations? Well, not directly — at least not yet — but through the back door, unless the members of the Economic and Social Council wake up.On Monday, the 54 member states in ECOSOC (including the United States, Germany and United Kingdom) are scheduled to take the vote on the application of Palestinian Return Centre for accreditation as a non-governmental organization in the UN system.This campaign is led by Sudan — a notorious terror state led by Omar al-Bashir, who’s wanted for genocide. If the PRC application is granted, the group’s leaders would receive open access to UN facilities in New York, Geneva and elsewhere, as well as the right to participate in committee meetings (including at the Human Rights Council).
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has had a close affiliation with the PRC, which is based in London and active throughout Europe, for many years, including appearing as the keynote speaker at the organization’s annual conference in Milan in 2009. On June 1, after the PRC passed the preliminary vote in the NGO committee of ECOSOC, Haniyeh’s office warmly congratulated the PRC leadership.

The young American Muslim man who shot dead four US Marines in Chattanooga on Thursday visited Jordan and Yemen last year, Army Radio reported Friday.According to the report, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez spent a month in Jordan in 2014, during which time he also visited Yemen. Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait, but was a naturalized American citizen who left for the United States with his parents in 1996.
The SITE Intelligence Group, an organization based in Maryland that monitors online activity by jihadi groups, said that Abdulazeez’s mother is Kuwaiti and his father Palestinian.The 24-year-old opened fire at two US military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, killing the four soldiers and wounding three other people in a rampage that officials said was being investigated as an act of “domestic terrorism.”
Two of the dead have been identified as Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40, and Skip Wells, who was in his early 20s. The other victims’ names were not immediately released.

The Christian Empowerment Council, an Israeli Christian group headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf, has released a new guide to help Christians better understand the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The 12-page guide titled “Test the Spirits: A Christian Guide to the Anti-Israel Boycott Movement” seeks to challenge Christian anti-Zionism “on an ideological level” following the “recent discussions concerning BDS in global churches,” including in the Mennonite and Episcopalian churches and the United Church of Christ.The Christian Empowerment Council is focused on working to integrate Israel’s Christian community into the wider Israeli society and to support young Christians looking to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
The guide tackles a wide array of questions, such as “How does a boycott of Israel impact the church?” and “Does the Bible encourage boycotting nations?” In answering the questions, the book draws from both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

The British government lifted all remaining restrictions on arms sales to Israel after a year-long review of 12 weapons export licenses, the U.K.’s Independent reported on Thursday.The lifting of restrictions was announced by the British Department of Business, which imposed the restrictions in response to the 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip last summer.
During the conflict, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, some British politicians had called on the country to suspend arms exports, citing fears that their use by the IDF might harm civilians in the Gaza Strip, and one minister even resigned in light of the government’s refusal to do so.But while a ban was never imposed, the Department of Business had adopted some restrictions pending a review of the licenses to make sure these weapons were not going to harm civilians.
The exports in question were components for military radars and tanks, among other things, according to the Independent.

The family of Danny Gonen, the Israeli hiker murdered by terrorists last month north of Jerusalem, have welcomed the arrest of his murderer and several accomplices, and called to apply the death penalty against the lead terrorist.
Gonen's cousin Rabbi Itzik Gonen, the rabbi of a pre-IDF academy in Lod, told Arutz Sheva on Friday that the fact that one the terrorists involved had previously been arrested for terrorism and released should send warning signs - the terrorist leader was revealed to be on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
"How can it be that people who dealt in terror did not face a punishment strong enough to deter them," posed Rabbi Gonen. "It hurts the family that a person who was involved and active in terror was released and murdered Danny, it shows the weakness and powerlessness of the state of Israel against murderers."As noted by the bereaved family member, one of those involved in the murder previously was among the 1,027 terrorists released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.
The rabbi demanded that "justice must come to light. We are happy that they caught the lowly murderers and if need be we will stand against them and speak out (in court). The family reasons that any Jewish blood that is spilled must have a severe penalty, Jewish blood is not abandoned.""A terrorist that intentionally murdered - the death penalty is the simple statement," he said.

Ismail Haniyeh, a former Palestinian prime minister, said Israel had re-arrested at least 54 of the more than 1,000 prisoners freed in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid by Gaza militants in 2006.
“We have told all the mediators who have mobilized to discuss a new exchange that there won’t be any negotiations before the release of all those Israel detained from among the Shalit deal group,” Haniyeh said in a speech marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday. “There will be no talks without their unconditional release.”
Haniyeh did not elaborate on what new exchange was being mooted.
He said Hamas would continue to fight for the release of Palestinian prisoners. “God willing, your freedom is near,” he stated.Israel insists that all of those rearrested since the Shalit exchange were implicated in fresh security offences committed after their release.
Hamas has long acknowledged holding body parts of two Israeli soldiers killed during last summer’s conflict in Gaza, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.

UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict chairwoman Mary McGowan Davis responded positively to an invitation from Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin to visit southern Israel and meet with its residents.Jelin released the letter on Thursday, hours after terrorists shot a rocket from Gaza, saying that, “[it’s] a year after the Protective Edge war and our deterrence has expired. Hamas is committing war crimes, terrorist organizations are shooting at civilian towns and [the] IDF has to defend the state’s citizens.”
The Yesh Atid MK called on the government to make sure the army works at full force, while engaging in diplomacy and standing strong before the world to explain that Israel has the right to defend itself.
Last month, Jelin wrote to McGowan Davis following rocket fire from Gaza: “Last night, for the sixth time since the end of Operation Protective Edge, citizens of Israel, innocent men, women and children, experienced another night of sirens.... [Terrorists] were firing at innocent citizens who have done nothing to them.”Jelin criticized McGowan Davis for not calling those who shoot rockets at Israel terrorist organizations in her report on the 2014 operation and the UN for not acting to support the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

In a new shocking testimony to the Muslim desecration of the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount, video has surfaced showing an Arab clown performing for Arab children at the holy site.The video - posted to Facebook on Friday by nationalist activist Baruch Marzel - shows the clown performing by tying balloons into funny shapes, speaking in a funny high voice and generally entertaining, all while framed by the Dome of the Rock Mosque.
Masses of mulling Muslims can be seen passing by and watching the performance in the video, unperturbed by the very unsanctified behavior at the site Muslims claim is holy to them.
Regarding the sanctity of the Temple Mount for Muslims, Islam claims that the site is the third holiest in its view, and Muslims praying at the site face Mecca, turning their backs on the Dome of the Rock.

The Palestinian Authority is holding in its prisons more than 160 Hamas men who were detained in the West Bank in recent weeks, according to sources close to Hamas.
The sources said that, since July 2, PA security forces arrested 245 Hamas supporters as part of a massive crackdown on the Islamist movement, of which 160 remain in custody. About 80 of those arrested are university students, the sources added.They said that 23 detainees have gone on a hunger strike to protest against their incarceration.
Human rights groups in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have condemned the arrests and demanded an investigation into charges that some of the detainees had been tortured.
A committee made up of representatives of the detainees’ families said in a statement on Thursday that some of their sons have had their arms broken during interrogation.
The committee said that other detainees lost consciousness as a result of torture and have been transferred to various hospitals in the West Bank.The committee launched a campaign titled “We didn’t forget you!” to demand the release of all “political” detainees and prisoners from PA detention centers.

Israel Ambassador the UN Ron Prosor addressed over 200 people choosing to immigrate to Israel on Monday, as they embarked from John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport for the first Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) charter flight for summer 2015. The charter flight will land in Israel's Ben-Gurion airport on Tuesday morning. "You and I share a common mission," he began. "I and the team at the United Nations stand on the front lines every day, defending Israel from those who question Israel's right to exist."
"You are the answer - each and every one of you," he added, to applause. "You are the answer to the BDS, you are the answer to anti-Semitism, and you are the answer to all those who question the only state, the Jewish state, the nation-state of the Jewish people.""When I return to the corridors of the United Nations, I always walk tall and proud, because I know who I represent and what I represent," he continued. "Seeing you here absolutely fills my heart and I want to thank you."

When Irving Roth walked out of the Auschwitz concentration camp in April 1945, having watched in horror as members of his family were marched into the gas chamber upon their arrival the previous year, he was thankful that he would live to see his sixteenth birthday.
For decades, Roth has shared his experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds so the world will never forget.On Sunday morning his audience consisted of over 500 college students gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 10th annual Christians United For Israel (CUFI) Summit.
While the conference doesn’t officially begin until Monday morning, students from across the country arrived a day early for special programming geared toward combating anti-Semitism on college campuses.
After a morning religious service, Roth was introduced to the attendees by David Walker, National Campus Coordinator for CUFI. Walker, an African-American, referred to the 85-year old as his “Jewish grandfather.”

The morality of BDS activities has often been questioned, and critics, such as Jewish human rights group the Anti-Defamation League, accuse it of outright anti-Semitism and trying to delegitimize Israel.
But now, opponents of BDS are fighting back.Whether it is the recent wave of anti-BDS legislation in Europe and the United States, or the failure of particular BDS efforts and campaigns around the world, something is changing.
In May, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill (which passed unanimously) that requires state pension funds to divest from companies that support the BDS movement.
Similar bills have recently passed in the Indiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina state legislatures. In the state of New York, such a bill is currently in the works.In June, President Obama signed Trade Promotion Authority legislation, which contained several anti-BDS provisions. (It should be noted, however, that Obama is contesting some of these).

A pro-Palestinian student group in South Africa temporarily suspended some of its members who traveled to Israel with an 18-member delegation of young leaders, the organization said on Tuesday.The South African Students Congress (SASCO) accused the members of participating in an “Israel propaganda trip,” and claimed the intention of the visit was to receive an “unbalanced perspective” on the Israeli-Arab conflict. They group expressed grave concern over attempts by the “Zionist lobby” to wage “a counter offensive to our ongoing solidarity campaigns with the oppressed people of Palestine.”
SASCO, which promotes the boycott of Israel, said the trip was an attempt to embarrass it through its members’ participation. They claimed the tour tainted the name of their organization and put it into “disrepute.” The visit to Israel was “crossing the picket line,” the group said.
“We wish to send a clear message to our members that as an internationalist organization, we will never accept that in our name our members contradict our standing positions,” a statement said. “The oppression of the people of Palestine by apartheid Israel is no different if not worse than our own oppression. It would be an indictment on our part if we do not take action.”The delegation of student leaders traveled to Israel on July 4 and returned to South Africa on Saturday. The trip was organized by the South Africa Israel Forum.

“Pro-Israel” is an interesting phrase, since, by definition, it means that some people are anti-Israel, which in the politically correct world is not kosher.
For example, BDS leadership publicly points out that it is anti-Zionist, but not anti-Israel, although they don’t state publicly that they are pro-Israel. Further, BDS’ written and stated goal of a one-state solution (yes, one-state solution) calls for Israel to be replaced by Palestine (which would have an Arab-Muslim majority, but I’ll save this point for another piece).And now, even “pro-Israel” has lost its meaning as it’s been hijacked by Jewish groups (that seem Jewish in name only), who are anything but pro-Israel. J Street, for example (an organization that regularly partners with anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, and pro-BDS speakers), uses the tagline: The Political Home for Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Americans.
Obviously, if J Street is “pro-Israel,” then it’s definitely time to consider finding another term, so I went searching. Then, a few weeks ago, I noticed that the Colonel is returning to his roots. KFC is gone. Kentucky Fried Chicken is back. (I guess “fried” equals sales.) So I figured, if Kentucky Fried Chicken can take back its name, Zionism can do the same. Rebrand, relaunch, and rejoice!
They say that so many people today are trying to think outside the box that staying inside the box is now actually thinking outside the box. The same can be said for the word Zionism. Zionists have allowed anti-Zionists to write the narrative and transform Zionism’s meaning so many times that it’s time to finally embrace the original term … and just let the rest of the world holler in ignorance.

Sometimes I have time to fight the good fight for Israel on Quora and sometimes I don’t. And sometimes, well, I just make time. Especially when the question is asked in a thoughtful way as this one was:Can you express your opinion about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict here?
I am Jewish and that, according to all three major world religions IS my nationality. The Quran and the bible both reference the Jews as the “Children of Israel.” See, for instance: Surat Al-‘Isra’ – The Noble Qur’an – القرآن الكريمMy opinion is that the term “Palestinian” is a propaganda term used to further a false narrative that the Arab refugees who flooded pre-State Israel, hoping to ride the coattails of Jewish prosperity, are actually the indigenous people of the territory. See: Israel is Engaged in a War of Words
It is sad when a people has no homeland, but this is not true in the case of the “Palestinians.” There are 22 Arab states and there is plenty of land in these states where these “refugees” might reside and call their homeland, were these states to open their hearts and borders to these people. Just as a single example of how these people are marginalized by their brethren, see:Palestinians in Syria

Arnie Lokayam, 30, founded ASS three years ago, and BDS activists immediately gravitated toward the groundbreaking software. “It was clear to our development team that there was a market niche waiting to be tapped,” he recalled in an interview. “By selling our product and follow-on support to BDS movement coordinators from here in Israel, we recouped the initial investment capital within six months of going to market.” Lokayam says he hired only local workers, conscious of the need to reduce carbon-emitting air travel. “We would have hired people from all over, and had them work remotely, but I’m a big believer in having my team all in one place.”As a result, according to publicly released corporate data, ASS has contributed upwards of eighteen million shekels to the coffers of the State Treasury in employee and corporate income tax revenue, not including National Insurance payments that contribute directly to welfare payments for Israeli parents and low-income residents. Lokayam expressed confidence that his clients, who are invariably supporters of liberal, socialist-oriented causes, would be similarly gratified to know that their business is helping ASS make significant contributions to Israel’s welfare state.“We’ve also been engaged in a good bit of corporate philanthropy,” added the father of three. “Our favorite charities are ones that help victims of Palestinian terrorism,” yet another way in which the company’s values dovetail with the BDS movement’s known concern for human rights.The most recent version of the product, according to Lokayam, is called Divest Organizing Operations For Universal Sanctions (DOOFUS), a general-purpose BDS-coordinating tool that provides high-level data on all types of Israeli securities that are traded on exchanges elsewhere in the world. DOOFUS monitors the activity of these stock issues and advises the user on recommended times to make an offer for those stocks or bonds, to encourage holders of those investment to part with them, and demonstrate the undesirability of Israeli investments.

In three faulty translations this week, the Haaretz English edition misstated Palestinian and Israeli fatalities. In the first mistranslation, Haaretz's English edition inflated the number of Palestinian casualties. In today's two-part mistranslation, the second in one week, the English edition ignores two Israeli casualties (one killed, one severely wounded) in two separate terror attacks.In English, the Slain Rosenfeld Is Just Wounded
Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld was one of four Israelis wounded June 29 in a drive-by shooting attack near Shvut Rachel in the West Bank. As reported by Haaretz at the time, his wounds were fatal, and he died the very next day.
But an article today in Haaretz's English edition, both in print and online, refers to the June 29 drive-by shooting, but reports only to four wounded, ignoring the fact that Rosenfeld was killed ("Israeli soldier wounded in West Bank stabbing attack") (h/t Yenta Press)

The Toronto-based Arab newspaper Meshwar published an article (Issue 133, June 26, 2015, P.21) suggesting that the US and the “Zionist-Masonic movement” are the hidden forces behind the civil wars in Iraq, Syria and other Arab countries.
The author, Hisham al-Habishan, a Jordanian writer and political activist, contends that the goal behind this scheme is primarily to weaken the Arab region by tearing into pieces the existing countries in order to safeguard the security of the State of Israel. The article and the accompanied cartoon imply that the US and the “ Zionist-Masonic movement” are siding with ISIS and even supporting it.

An example of the pitfalls into which this kind of thinking can lead the Left was recently provided by a fractious twitter exchange on the subject of gay rights and Islam involving Freedland’s Guardian colleague Owen Jones.The US Supreme Court ruling legalising gay marriage had been handed down a few days earlier and the summer’s Pride festivities had just begun. Profile avatars superimposed with solidarity rainbows swept social media in celebration of both; a touching display of the breadth and depth of support the once-lonely campaign for marriage equality has come to enjoy.A mischievous variation on this theme was an image of the Qur’an, tweeted by the ex-Muslim writer and activist Saif Rahman, which a twitter user calling himself ‘Colt’ then gave a speculative punt in the direction of Owen Jones:

While the media has focused its attention on several radical fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, who on Thursday threw smoke bombs onto the soccer pitch during a 5-1 loss to Sporting Charleroi in Belgium, not much has been made of the blatant Nazi salutes by Belgian fans which led to the angry outburst.
Beitar owner Eli Tabib announced he is cutting his ties with the team and selling it as a result of the incident, and is likewise cutting his ties with Israeli soccer altogether, after fans threw smoke bombs and also apparently hit the Charleroi goalkeeper with a thrown object that led him to fall down.
The incident likely will cause Beitar to be fined by the UEFA, and it led to Sports and Culture Minister Miri Regev (Likud) to promise to take action to curb fan violence at soccer games.But apparently slipping under the radar is the blatant anti-Semitism directed against the Israeli fans by their Belgian counterparts, who were revealed in video footage to be shouting taunting chants accompanied by repeated Nazi salutes - conducted even by children and women.

A caller on a C-SPAN radio talk show accused U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of dual loyalty to America and Israel given the senator’s Jewish faith.“Mr. Cardin looks like a regular white guy, nice guy, whatever, but in actuality he’s a Jewish white guy,” a caller identified as “Eric from Georgia” said Wednesday during a segment about the Iran nuclear deal on the Washington Journal program. “If the public was informed of that by C-SPAN, I think they would take his comments differently.”
“Because this guy is Jewish, that means that he is concerned about Israel,” added the caller.
Cardin responded, “I’m normally pretty tolerant to people who ask questions, but I’m not to your assumption. I take great offense to that.”“Our loyalty is to America. Our concerns are to America. Our religion is our personal business and should have nothing to do with an evaluation from anyone as to our objectivity on issues concerning America,” said Cardin, The Hill reported.

Major Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) told South Korean conglomerate Samsung that the removal of antisemitic cartoons published on its website was insufficient, and demanded an explanation as to why the cartoons were posted in the first place.
The call came just days after the company issued a statement decrying antisemitism, in response to articles that appeared in local media outlets blaming “Jewish money” for opposition to a proposed merger between two subdivisions of the company.
“The blatant Jew hatred cartoons invoking genocidal stereotypes is outrageous and makes a mockery of earlier statement by Samsung,” said SWC Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper, in an email seen by The Algemeiner. “The belated removal of these Nazi-like caricatures is not enough. The Simon Wiesenthal Center does not consider this matter closed. At this point Samsung is not believable.”
“I represent a constituency of 400,000 member families who are demanding to know why your company facilitated such behavior,” Cooper said further.The cartoons in question targeted Paul Singer, an American-Jewish billionaire hedge fund magnate who opposed the merger as being against the interests of shareholders, himself included. The caricatures, published by the official website of Samsung C&T itself, featured a character called “Vulture Man” intended to mock Singer. They depicted Vulture Man viciously exploiting children and poor people, the New York Observer reported, adding “Yes, there were hatchets and machine guns.”

The director and founder of a Moscow Jewish museum was shot and seriously injured outside the institution by an unidentified assailant on Thursday.Sergei Ustinov, a writer and businessman who is a prominent member of Moscow’s Jewish community and who also serves as vice president of the Russian Jewish Congress, was shot by a lone assailant who delivered a single projectile to Ustinov’s neck before fleeing the scene, the Moskovskij Komsomolets daily reported.
He is in critical but stable condition, according to the report. The weapon used was a sawed-off Osa pistol, which is typically used for firing blanks and flares, Komsomolets reported. Classified as a “non-lethal handgun,” it is not commonly used in assassinations.
Police said they were investigating several possible motives for the crime, including a business dispute and anti-Semitism.In a statement, the Russian Jewish Congress wrote it was too early to draw any concrete conclusions about the motives behind the attack.

Police said they identified a SUV they believe is linked to a string of recent Staten Island paintball attacks, which are being investigating in connection to similar incidents against Jews in Brooklyn.Authorities are looking for a dark-colored GMC terrain after five separate paintball shootings in Staten Island were reported to police since the beginning of July, the New York Post reported on Tuesday. The latest attacks took place over the weekend and were all orchestrated by assailants who drove off in a car.
One of the victims is Orthodox Jew Abrhaam Revivo, 67, whose right shoulder is still sore from the incident on Friday night.
“I hope they catch this guy,” said Revivo. “It’s very scary.”

Professional lacrosse player Chase Clark was told that there are three keys to survival in Israel — realize that everyone else thinks their time is more important than yours; avoid the crazy drivers while crossing the road; and enjoy yourself as much as possible.Before this week, Clark had never been to the Jewish state. But on Monday, the Grand Junction, Colorado, resident moved there — with big plans to play for the country’s national indoor lacrosse team.
“I found out later in life that I wanted to find more of my religion,” said Clark, who has a blue-and-yellow Star of David tattoo on his calf. “Now I’m going to the holiest place in the world. How can you not be excited about that?”
Clark, 25, was one of 221 Jews who moved to Israel on Monday via the 53rd charter flight organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit founded in 2002 to encourage and facilitate the aliyah process for Jews from North America and the United Kingdom. The organization is funded in part by the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency and private donations. (h/t J_April)

Almost half a year after the bloody terrorist attack at Paris’s Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket, and in the shadow of increasing antisemitism, thousands of French Jews are expected to immigrate to Israel this summer, Israel’s NRG reported on Sunday.
The last few years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel from the country, and France now tops the list of countries from which Jews are arriving in Israel.This summer alone, 3,000 Jews are expected to move to Israel, adding to the 3,124 French Jews who have already made aliyah since the start of 2015. In 2014, about 7,000 immigrants from France came to Israel. By comparison, just 1,064 French Jews relocated to Israel in 2013.
The influx of French Jewish immigrants follows a joint effort by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and the Jewish Agency for Israel to maintain a high level of immigration from the European country, and to increase immigration from around the world.

Tel Aviv, Israel, June 30, 2015 - RADWIN, the global provider of sub-6 GHz broadband wireless solutions, today announced that the City of Tshwane in South Africa deployed RADWIN’s FiberinMotion® wireless mobility solution to provide free Wi-Fi onboard city buses - up to 100 Mbps throughput per bus. The FREE Wi-Fi ON BUSES initiative was launched in December 2014. Since then over 200,000 unique users have used free Wi-Fi onboard the city’s buses, with total data usage of 30 Terabytes. Project Isizwe, a non-profit organization which aims to bring the internet to people across South Africa, spearheaded the project.
In the first phase of deployment, RADWIN FiberinMotion base stations were deployed along the A Re Yeng line from Pretoria Central to Hatfield, and over 30 buses were fitted with FiberinMotion vehicular mobile units (VMUs).
Kgosientso Ramokgopa, City of Tshwane’s Mayor, commented on the Free Wi-Fi project: “Onboard the buses passengers have access to connectivity. Connectivity remains uninterrupted so you are able to do your assignments, email assignments and communicate with friends at no cost. So that is the true value.”
Alan Knott-Craig Jr., Founder & CEO of Project Isizwe: “In today’s connected world, access to the internet is essential and should be available to everyone - regardless of circumstances. With the FREE Wi-Fi ON BUSES initiative, Project Isizwe and RADWIN are helping bridge the digital divide by allowing passengers to access information, education and jobs online, on-the-go. We had the entire project up deployed in record time, thanks to the ease and simplicity of installation of FiberinMotion. In addition, the FiberinMotion Real Time Monitoring Tool enables gauging wireless network performance 24x7.”

LogDog, an Israeli-developed app that catches hackers who try to log in to secure online accounts with stolen user names and passwords, announced Thursday that it had raised $3.5 million in a Series A financing round.
The money will go to enhancing its product, rolling out new services and hiring new workers, the company said.
Despite the many security technologies designed to protect users of cloud and Internet services, hackers still manage to steal user names and passwords – putting one in four web users at risk.
“Sooner or later, a user is going to slip, clicking on a link in a phishing email or engaging in some other activity, even unintentionally, that will allow a hacker access to their online accounts,” said LogDog co-founder Omri Toppol. “That’s why more than 25% of online accounts are compromised each year. Our solution catches hackers when they try to open an account, allowing users to know when they have been compromised and giving them an opportunity to do something about it.

Virtual reality star Oculus on Thursday announced a deal to buy an Israel-based start-up specializing in technology that can track hand movements.
Oculus expects the purchase of Pebbles Interfaces to add momentum to its development of virtual reality (VR) technologies and boost its Rift VR head gear.
Pebbles has spent five years developing technology that uses optics, sensors, and software to detect and track hand movements, according to Oculus.“At Pebbles Interfaces, we’ve been focused on pushing the limits of digital sensing technology to accelerate the future of human-computer interaction,” Pebbles chief technology officer Nadav Grossinger said in an Oculus blog post.
“Through micro-optics and computer vision, we hope to improve the information that can be extracted from optical sensors, which will help take virtual reality to the next level.”

Add Tokyo to the growing list of cities that are a nonstop flight away from Tel Aviv.A new aviation deal between Israeli and Japanese airlines will offer customers up to 14 direct flights between the two countries each week.
Representatives from Israel’s airline El Al and Japan’s biggest airline, All Nippon, signed the deal at a recent meeting Tokyo.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz Wednesday confirmed the new aviation agreement, calling it “really good news.”
“This agreement is a direct continuation of my policy to open the skies,” Katz said, according to Ynet.
No date was given for the launch of the new route.“I believe that adding destinations in Japan itself, as well as flights, will increase the number of tourists arriving in Israel in the near future. The agreement is also an important component in the government’s policy to strengthen Israel’s relations with Japan.”

The famous Guggenheim Museum in New York has a blog that says it "tells the Guggenheim’s evolving story, and offers insights on vis...

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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون

This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 12 years and over 25,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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Omri: "Elder is one of the best established and most respected members of the jblogosphere..."Atheist Jew:"Elder of Ziyon probably had the greatest impression on me..."Soccer Dad: "He undertakes the important task of making sure that his readers learn from history."AbbaGav: "A truly exceptional blog..."Judeopundit: "[A] venerable blog-pioneer and beloved patriarchal figure...his blog is indispensable."Oleh Musings: "The most comprehensive Zionist blog I have seen."Carl in Jerusalem: "...probably the most under-recognized blog in the JBlogsphere as far as I am concerned."Aussie Dave: "King of the auto-translation."The Israel Situation:The Elder manages to write so many great, investigative posts that I am often looking to him for important news on the PalArab (his term for Palestinian Arab) side of things."Tikun Olam: "Either you are carelessly ignorant or a willful liar and distorter of the truth. Either way, it makes you one mean SOB."Mondoweiss commenter: "For virulent pro-Zionism (and plain straightforward lies of course) there is nothing much to beat it."Didi Remez: "Leading wingnut"

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